You can never know
by hesmus
Summary: Life can suddenly bring really hard times for people to handle. The life doesn't always include health, it can also include sickness. Modern AU.


_Hello my lovelies! So, I kinda started to write a new big story now. I know that I haven't finished A Drunken Mistake just yet but I couldn't stop myself anymore! xD So, all I can say now is that this isn't going to be a fluffy and sugar coated story. But I still hope that you will like it. ^^_

_And I don't own One Piece._

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Sanji woke up again because of a powerful coughing fit. He sat up and tried to calm down his breathing and reached for the glass of water on his nightstand. He took a sip and sighed. Damn, how long was this flu going to last? It had been two weeks now! Sore throat, coughing and a runny nose. After one week Sanji couldn't take it anymore and went back to work, much to his lover's displeasure. He'd even had fevers time after time.

Sanji heard groaning beside him and cursed under his breath. He had woken up Zoro again. Now he had to listen to the same nagging over and over again. He already knew all the words Zoro was going to say. He put the glass back on the table and lay down.

"You really should go to see a doctor already," Zoro murmured into his pillow.

Oh great, here it comes. Sanji sighed heavily, not a the best of ideas as it only caused him to cough more. But he had to admit, that it was already bothering him way too much, he was sick of this.

"Yeah, yeah. I will see tomorrow, if I can," Sanji muttered in defeat. Maybe he could go to see Chopper or something.

Zoro muttered a sleepy 'good' and instantly fell back to sleep. Yeah, Sanji was going to call a doctor tomorrow and go to see what's going on. Maybe he would just get some kind of vaccination and that'd be it. Well, at least he hoped so. Slowly he drifted back to sleep, wondering if the doctor would force him to stay at home which he certainly DIDN'T want to do…

Next morning an alarm clock woke both the men, drawing irritated groans from their throats. Sanji slammed his hand on top of the annoying little shit to shut it up and slowly sat up, a big yawn splitting his face. Next to him Zoro didn't show any signs of getting up, of course. The blonde smacked the back of Zoro's head, earning a death glare from him.

"Get up you shitty Marimo. You have work to do as well."

"Mmmm… I don't want to," the green head whined like a little kid.

Sanji pulled the blanket away from Zoro, successfully making him get up. Zoro cursed under his breath as he walked to the bathroom to take a shower and get himself ready for work. Sanji on the other hand, went to the kitchen to prepare a quick breakfast. He was feeling a bit dizzy again, almost like he was feverish. His throat felt sore and dry and it wouldn't go away even after drinking two glasses of water. Dammit… Okay, he was going to see a doctor… But it had to wait until after work. He couldn't just leave his precious restaurant because of the damned flu!

Sanji set the table and poured steamy fresh coffee into two mugs and sat down to wait for Zoro to finish showering. He circled a spoon in the coffee while reading through a newspaper which he had picked up earlier. There was nothing new. Wars going on all around the world, politicians fighting about ridiculous things, celebrities doing stupid things with each other and all that crap. He put the paper away and sipped his coffee. Ah, that made his throat feel a little bit better.

"So are you going to go see a doctor today?"

Sanji looked up from his coffee mug and met Zoro's serious glare. The Marimo was already fully dressed and shower fresh, ready for the new day. He had crossed his arms and was staring at Sanji with a questioning look. Sanji flashed a teasing smirk at him.

"Are you that worried about me, Marimo?" Sanji chuckled and took another sip from his coffee, still looking at Zoro who was clearly irritated.

"Tch. Don't think too much about yourself…" was the response. Zoro turned his head away and made his way to Sanji and sat down across from him.

Of course he was worried about Sanji, he was his partner after all! How could he not be? Sanji had been sick for two weeks now and it showed no signs of going away. Even if it was just flu Zoro couldn't stop thinking about the 'what if it was something else, something more serious' thought. He had to shake those doubts away; no, it was just a flu but it had lasted a little too long so it was good to get it checked.

They sat there in a comfortable silence and enjoyed their breakfast. It was good, as always. After they had finished eating, Sanji collected all the dishes to put them into the dishwasher. He glanced at the clock and hissed. He was going to be late. He rushed to the shower and got himself ready as quickly as possible. Zoro was already about to leave for his office when Sanji rushed into the hallway.

"Hurry up shit cook! We will be both late," Zoro growled and looked at his wristwatch.

"Could you just wait a fucking second?! I'm almost ready!" Sanji yelled and quickly put his jacket on and grabbed his bag. "Okay, now we can go."

They almost ran all the way to their car and hopped in. Zoro dropped Sanji by the restaurant, 'All Blue', where he worked and then drove off to his own office.

Sanji ran inside via the back door and changed into his work clothes, white chef coat, hat and black dress pants. He checked himself from the mirror to comb his hair with his fingers. Then he noticed how pale he was. Well his skin was always pale but never this much. It was more like a gray kind of pale. He shivered at the sight. Maybe it would go away when he got working. Yeah, he was just tired so that's why he was so pale. Sanji strolled over to his office room to check what ingredients were supposed to arrive today and started some paperwork before his employees came to work. It was wonderful to finally have his very own restaurant. Two years ago he was able to rent this place and open his long dreamed restaurant, All Blue. It was his biggest dream. He always did everything to make that place shine and draw people in to enjoy their fantastic food.

Other chefs, waiters and waitresses started to come to arrive so Sanji left the paper work and went to tell everybody that day's special dishes and wished them good luck with an encouraging smile. One waitress however looked a bit concerned and walked up to Sanji after the others had left to work.

"Sanji, is everything okay? Are you feeling any better?" she asked and looked up to Sanji's pale face.

Sanji flashed a charming, but tired, smile at her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Ah, no need to worry about me Amalia-chan. I'm feeling much better already. But I will go to see a doctor today after work."

Amalia gave him a skeptic look but then nodded. "Make sure that you really go then."

"I will, I promise," Sanji tried to assure her. He had already promised Zoro so he was kind of forced to go. "But for now, let's get working, shall we?" he continued and smiled softly. They walked in their own directions; Sanji to the already busy kitchen and Amalia behind the bar counter.

The day passed by fast, lots of customers came to eat in their restaurant and Sanji was flattered to get so many compliments from them. They had served all kinds of food and meals, even breakfast, and that's what brought so many happy customers. But of course there were also some little arguments and scolding in the kitchen, nothing serious though. It was like any other day.

Soon it was time for Sanji to end his shift and leave others to continue their work. The sous-chef took his place and wished a happy evening to Sanji with a cheerful smile. Sanji really had the best employees ever. He was so happy that he found them all.

The cook changed his clothes and walked to the bus stop. Man, how he wished that they had two cars instead of just the one which Zoro always used… The moss head never allowed Sanji to use his car. Ever. And it didn't help Sanji's mood that it was freaking cold! The wind was freezing and it played with his hair, making him shiver. _'Oh come on! Why does the bus have to be late?!'_ When the bus finally came, Sanji hopped in and paid for his ticket. The bus was already full so he had to stand for the whole drive. Usually he didn't mind that but now that he had started to feel dizzy again, it made him feel sick.

The ride felt so long even though it wasn't. Sanji struggled to keep his stomach under control and tried to focus his eyes on the road. God, this was so annoying! The bus kept moving on the road and much to Sanji's joy, finally arrived at the city centre. He hopped off and started to walk to the city hospital. It wasn't a long walkm but it wore him out completely and he felt feverish again. In the end he managed to make his way to the hospital and walked to the reception desk.

A middle-aged nurse was sitting behind the desk, looking extremely bored and uninterested. She was reading some women's trash magazine and drinking coffee. Sanji approached her carefully and cleared his throat when she didn't show any sign of acknowledging him.

"Ah, good afternoon miss. I would like to see the doctor in attendance," Sanji said politely with a friendly smile.

The nurse lifted her eyes from the magazine and glanced at Sanji with a bored look. She handed Sanji a form template and a pen.

"Fill this in and give it back to me. Then you can go and wait for the doctor."

Sanji flashed a little smile and thanked the woman and went to fill in the form. They were just some questions about his name, birth time, address and etc. It was quick and easy so Sanji finished and went to give it back. The nurse told him where to go and then turned back to her magazine and coffee.

Sanji walked down the long white aisle, it made him feel even more nauseous. After finding the right waiting room he sat down and took his phone from his pocket. There was one message and it was from Zoro. Sanji smirked to himself. Zoro never wanted to admit that he gave a shit about anything but in reality he was always worried about Sanji. He had text to ask if Sanji had arrived at the hospital safely and how was he feeling. Sanji couldn't help but chuckle. Zoro was amazing. They argued a lot and were both complete jerks time after time but Sanji was still happy to be with him. Maybe Zoro wasn't that romantic and all lovey dovey but Sanji didn't mind. If he was, he wouldn't be the Zoro that Sanji loved so much.

Sanji was completely lost in his thoughts when the doctor came to call for him to come in. He stood up and walked to the little room. There were some posters of human body parts on the walls, one bed beside the wall and of course two chairs and a work desk; a typical doctor's work room.

"Please sit down Mr. Black," the doctor said with his deep voice and gestured at the chair next to the table.

The doctor looked pretty old, gray already visible in his hair and face tired and wrinkly. He sat down as well after Sanji and looked through some papers.

"So, what's wrong Mr. Black?"

"Well uh… I have had this flu for two weeks now and it just won't go away. Sometimes I have a low fever too and I feel sick every now and then," Sanji explained and stared down at his hands. He didn't like to whine about his health but right now he didn't have any other options.

"Hmmm, I see…" the doctor muttered and started to examine Sanji, asking some questions to get more information.

The doctor listened to his chest, checked his ears, throat and neck area. He frowned slightly at some point but didn't say anything. Sanji thought that he was just concentrated on his work, which was a good thing of course. After the doctor seemed to be finished he typed something on his computer and printed some papers, handing them to Sanji after signing them.

"Okay, I wrote you a note so that we can take some blood tests and X-rays, just in case. You need to go to the second floor, there will be a nurse waiting for you," the doctor said.

Sanji was suddenly confused. Blood tests? X-ray? What the hell?! He just had the flu for fuck's sake!

The doctor noticed Sanji's confused and slightly panicked expression and gave a little smile.

"No need to worry Mr. Black. I just want to make sure that you don't have anything serious so that I can give you a right medication if needed," he explained. That didn't make Sanji feel any better though…

Sanji took the papers, stood up and thanked the doctor. He wandered to the second floor and found a nurse and asked her about the test. She led Sanji to another room where he was advised to take his shirt off and step next to the X-ray machine. They took some pictures from his head area, to examine his maxillary sinuses. The X-ray nurse asked him not to breathe while she took the pictures and explained some other things too. Sanji did as he was told, he felt really nervous about all this. Why had so many tests have to be ran? It worried him to no end.

After the X-ray the same nurse came to take Sanji to one examine room and took four small bottles of his blood. Sanji chatted with the nurse, even flirted a little bit as per usual- he was a ladies man after all. They were soon done and the nurse patched Sanji up and told him to go to see the doctor again. Sanji bowed politely and thanked the lovely nurse for her hard work, making the young woman giggle happily.

Sanji was sitting in the waiting room again, waiting for the doctor to call for him. Sanji kept worrying about the results but he doubted that he would get any of them today. The same doctor came up to him, waking Sanji from his thoughts.

"Did everything go well, Mr. Black?"

"Yeah, there weren't any problems," Sanji replied quickly and stood up. However the doctor didn't walk back to his room, he just handed Sanji more papers with medical explanations and what not.

"I will call you tomorrow afternoon about the results if that's okay. It takes some time to get them. And I can't give you any medication just yet," the doctor explained.

Sanji put the papers into his bag and nodded. "Yeah, it's ok. Do you have any idea that is it just a normal flu or what?" he asked, worry written all over on his face.

"I can't say anything just now, I'm sorry. But don't worry, whatever it is we will find it," the man said with an encouraging smile. It actually made Sanji feel a little bit better.

With that Sanji walked out of the hospital and heard his phone ringing; it was Zoro, of course.

"Yeah?" he answered the phone.

"So, did you get out already? I just left the office so I can come to pick you up," Zoro said over the phone.

"Yeah, okay. I will wait in the parking lot then."

"Okay, ten minutes," and with that Zoro hung up.

Sanji stood in the chilly air almost for 30 minutes before Zoro showed up. That shitty Marimo… Sanji bet that he got lost again… And finally Zoro's car turned to the hospital's parking lot and stopped in front of Sanji. The blonde got in the car and cursed under his breath.

"What took you so damn long?! It's freezing out there!" Sanji snapped.

"Oi, no need to get mad! I just… got distracted…" Zoro said angrily but then trailed off and looked at the road while he turned the car to the main road.

Sanji snorted at Zoro's reply, knowing full well that he'd got lost, as always. They drove in the silence for a while before Zoro turned his head slightly to look at Sanji.

"So, what did they say?"

"Nothing, they just ran some tests. I will get to know more tomorrow. It's not anything special," Sanji stated casually, trying to assure himself as well. Everything was going to be alright for sure, he just knew it.

Zoro glanced at him one more time and let out a little hum. He had no choice other than trust the blond now.

*~To Be Continued~*

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**Beta read by MerryAnchor16 Thank you for that!~**


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